Member

In the Black Country, in mining communities across Yorkshire, Nottinghamshire, Derbyshire and County Durham, and in towns and cities across the Midlands and north, families who had rented for decades became home owners for the first time. That is social mobility in practice; it is not a policy failure. With great respect to the noble Baroness, Lady Bennett of Manor Castle, and to the Labour Government—who, while not seeking an outright ban on right to buy, are seeking to significantly curtail it—I say that this amendment illustrates the fundamental difference in our traditional views. We on these Benches have long believed that ownership should be extended as widely as possible across society. We do not view housing primarily through the lens of public ownership.